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TKe Address 
of Judge Asa E. Stratton, of Montgomery, Ala. 



At the Reunion and Memorial Exercises of Camp Robinson 

Springs No. 396 Alabama Division, United Confederate 

Veterans, Robinson Springs, Elmore Co., Ala., 

July 24, 1915. 



THE SOUTH 
ILLUSTRIOUS IN WAR— INCOMPARABLE IN PEACE. 

Slavery, not cause of secession and the war. These were the inevita- 
ble result of the clash between the National and States Right theories 
of American Governmental institutions. 



The services of the Confederate soldier greater in peace than in war. 



The crowning glory of the South; the restoration of its economic 
political and social institutions; and its part in rebuilding of Amer- 
ican Xationalitv since the war. 



There was never as much harmony between the sections as now. 
Neither section is any the less American for the part it took in the 
war. All victories and all defeats under whatever banner won or 
lost are American victories and American defeats. 



Mr. Commander and Comrades 

of Camp liohinson Springs, No. 396, 

Alabama Division of United Confederate Veterans: 

In expressing my sincere appreciation for the honor of your 
invitation to speak today, I must ask your charitable considera- 
tion for what may be said ; for this occasion presents great les- 
sons, as well as memories. It is of itself a lofty theme ; its 
topics are so varied and of such consequence as to challenge 
the ablest and most patriotic thought. The most momentous 
events of American history, the causes, the effects and the 
influences of the mightiest political and social revolution of 
recent times ; the relation of the States to the Union, and to each 
other; the rights of tlie States and the people; the achievements 
of the Confederate Soldier in war and in peace. All come 
before us together with memories which awaken the noblest and 
tenderest sentiments of the human heart. 

Speaking by your request, it is appropriate that I, in your 
name, should welcome this assemblage of your people, who 
inspired by the spirit of this occasion have taken advantage of 
this splendid day to join you in paying tribute to the fame and 
memory of those from this community and this Camp, as well 
as all those from this and other States who so gallantly fol- 
lowed the fortunes of the Confederacy through glory to defeat. 
You also have with you the Masons of this neighborhood to lend 
impressive interest to the exercises of the day; and to add to 
their tribute of affection for the heroes in Gray, the spirit of the 
benign teachings of their Order, which fall like a benediction 
on this occasion, and upon all mankind everywhere. 

War and time have thinned our ranks; — this but endears to 
us all the remaining few. While you keep fresh and green 
the fame and memory of the great majority who have crossed 
the river to their "rest beneath the trees;" wc all join you 
in lamenting their absence, and in sorrow say of them, that : 

"On fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread. 
And glory guards with solemn round 

Tlie bivouac of the dead." 

The great achievements of your comrades of the whole South- 
land, like the great deeds of the heroic dead of all ages and of 
all lands, are the enduring heritage of the race. Their examples 
like the ministration of a living priesthood, arc appeals to the 



— 2— 

better natures of men. They are instructive and inspiring. 
They now control, as in the centuries past, like deeds directed 
the destiny and progress of mankind. 

We, as a people, honor ourselves when we pause from our 
labors to pay tribute to the fame and services of our soldier 
dead, and to preserve the memory of their achievements. We 
here, today, present a great truth, an inspiring lesson: That 
through all the changes of time and fortune, the South still holds 
in sacred remembrance her storied past; that the deeds, the 
examples of her heroic dead are still an inspiration and a guide 
to the living. So long as that truth exists, the world will know 
that the glory and strength of the "Old South" was in the in- 
tegrity of its purpose, and the unity of its people. What was 
true of the older generation must continue to be true of the pres- 
ent and future ones; for loyalty to clean and high traditions, to 
noble ideals, and to the examples of the fathers are the essential 
elements of successful progress in the destiny of all races. These 
things mean much to us of the South today who connect the past 
with the present, as well as with an expanding, if not an end- 
less future. No people can safely forget, or neglect the history 
of its ancestry ; its social relationships ; its love and pride of 
race; or its admiration for its great achievements whether of war 
or peace. For all these mean more than the "flesh pots" of 
time, the triumphs of greed, or the materialism of the age. 
These sentiments are the immortal things of earth; they are 
the surest foundations of nations, and of all human greatness. 
The examples of the past are the imperishable heritage of the 
present and the future. No people can fail who so sacredly pre- 
serve the memory of the deeds and virtues of their ancestry 
as does the present generation of the South. Let us theretore 
examine and see what we have done to preserve the record of 
the South, and what yet remains to be done to advance this 
task which duty and affection alike impose. 

SERVICES IN PEACE. 

The achievements in war of the heroes in Gray were illustrious 
but the services which they rendered in peace, although not so 
often recalled, are as splendid, more enduring and useful than 
their achievements in war. Yet it has been too much the cus- 
tom in the past when the South has assembled to honor the 
memory, to recount the services and sacrifices of its heroes, to 
forget in admiration for their more brilliant and tragic deeds 
of war, tlieir great labors and works in peace. The South pays 
but half honor to its soldiers, dead and living when it recalls 



— 3— 

and preserves only their endurance and valor in war, and over- 
looks their devoted labor, tlieir patient toil, and their wondrous 
works in peace. 

When the scenes of desolation and ruin which war in 1865 
left everywhere throughout this land are recalled, and we now 
behold the fields of promise and the gardens of beauty which 
gladden every landscape of the South, we realize the truth, 
"That peace hath its victories no less renowned than war." 
When we think of the marvelous transformation wrought by 
the returned soldiers and the civilians of the South since the 
close of the war, we are forced to acknowledge our debt of 
gratitude for their service and works of peace which we today 
enjoy. When we recall their heroic struggles of peace; the 
momentous issues which they successfully met and solved after 
the surrender of our Armies in 1865, the full fruition of which 
we today see and possess in the moral, social, political and 
economic conditions of the South, we must be astounded at the 
splendor of the services rendered, and at our failure so long 
to duly honor and perpetuate these wondrous achievements of 
peace along with their illustrious deeds in war. When we re- 
flect upon the patient toil, the heroic and unselfish industry of 
the fathers, the mothers, the civilians, and returned soldiers of 
the Confederacy, as they triumphantly faced desolation, yet 
turned as by magic ruin and want into growth and prosperity, 
the silence of mourning into the voice of success, we must con- 
fess how unappreiciative we have been all these years of their 
priceless and enduring victories of peace. Not so did the an- 
cients; more than twenty-three centuries ago when Athens paid 
honor to her soldiers who had fallen in the Pelloponesian War, 
Pericles, in his funeral oration, not only portrayed their devotion 
and valor in war, but he told of the glory of Attica, the splendors 
of Athens and the trium])hs of peace, for all these as well as 
the deeds of war were the glorious achievements of her heroic 
dead whose fame he then proclaimed. He told of their lives, 
of their fame in peace and war, so that the "Golden Age of 
Athens," then in its fullness, should ever be the priceless heri- 
tage of the whole Hellenic race. So should wc remember, pre- 
serve, and transmit the splendid services and the great wisdom 
of our soldier and civilian dead in peace along with their victo- 
ries anl endurance in war. The duty of the South to these im- 
mortal dead is a task but half finished. The completed part has 
been the work of the devoted women of this fair land, who 
have everywhere erected monuments to perpetuate the martial 
deeds of Southern valor; that was right for: 



—4 — 

"There is no holier spot or ground 
Than where defeated valor lies 
By mourning beauty crowned." 

Yet be it said to our shame, that even tardy justice has not 
been done to the civic achievements of our soldier dead; or to 
the South. Its grand men and women, its heroes and heroines 
of peace have not yet fully come into their own, but let us hope 
that: 

"In seeds of laurel in the earth 

The blossoms of their fame is blown 

And some where waiting for its birth, 
The shaft is in the stone." 

The hitherto more frequent reference to the war than to the 
peace record of the South has been a mistake, as well as an 
injustice. This practice gives but half honor to its soldier dead, 
and none at all to its civilians. This course keeps bright but 
one chapter of Southern history, and leaves the other to forgetful- 
ness and decay. Let us remember that in the quietude and si- 
lence of peace, there are deeds as heroic, there are services ren- 
dered as noble as those which are performed amid the roar and 
tumult of battle. The world never saw a sadder, nor a grander 
sight, than the disbandment and return of the Confederate Sol- 
diers to the life and duties of peace in the Spring of 1865. On 
no field of battle did these heroes in Gray display higher cour- 
age, or a nobler determination to discharge the fullest measure 
of their duty, than when they furled their conquered, but stain- 
less banners, laid them awaj^ amid the ruins of war, to begin 
anew with courage, hope and success the duties of American 
citizenship. History furnishes no sublimer exhibition of duty 
and partiotism than that of the whole people of the South in 
the anguish of defeat under the lead of her heroic, but disbanded 
soldiery. In the bitterness of desolation, they courageously ac- 
cepted their ruined condition without a murmer, but with loyalty 
to home and kindred, the heroes in Gray took the people by the 
hand, with a courage radiant with its sublimity; set an example 
that electrified the whole land; and by patient industry recoup- 
ped the losses of unsuccessful war. In wisdom and forgiveness, 
they rebuilt their economic, governmental and social insti- 
tutions. The peaceful transformation of the disbanded armies 
of the South after the surrender in 1865 into law-abiding, en- 
terprising, industrious and prosperous citizens will ever remain 
among the grandest of human achievements; no brighter page 



—5 — 

will be found in all history. The only counterpart is that of 
the Armies of the North uniting into the body of the citizenship 
of the country. Thus nearly two millions of men in America 
at the close of our Civil War, without disorder, revolution, or 
loss of liberty, laid aside the arts of war for those of peace; 
they converted their swords into plow shares and pruning hooks, 
and united in friendly rivalry in the labors and victories of 
peace. None but Americans have ever written such marvelous 
history. 

Greater problems than those which confronted the returned 
Confederate soldiers and the people of the whole South in 1865 
never challenged human intelligence and courage. Civil gov- 
ernment and society were disorganized, poverty had supplanted 
wealth, money had become worthless paper; the labor system 
was destroyed; all business and industrial organization was 
gone. The only resources left were the lands, the air of heaven, 
and the stout hearts and willing hands of the heroic men and 
women of the South. If desolation and ruin was never so uni- 
versal and complete, restoration was never so glorious or 
speedy; for fields which ran red with war in the Spring, were 
ripe with the Harvests of Autumn; homes which were ruins 
soon again became the abodes of comfort. Yea more, the South, 
the Confederate soldiers have answered Mr. Webster's impas- 
sioned interrogatory, "Who shall rear again the fabric of de- 
molished government.''" The South has everywhere rebuilt the 
temples of her liberty and religion ; restored social order, cre- 
ated anew her economic and industrial system and aided in the 
rebuilding of the new American political institutions which have 
developed as a result of our Civil W^ar. 

The eleven States which formed the Southern Confederacy 
have not only regained their losses in treasure and life, but 
have doubled their population and wealth. The South today 
nearly equals in wealth that of the whole Union in 1860. In 
education and moral progress, the South has suijjassed her mar- 
velous material advancement. She has not only been great since 
our Civil war, but she was great before that mighty conflict; her 
sons have ever borne most conspicuous parts in every period of 
American history; in the colonial era, in the Revolutionary per- 
iod, in the days of the Confederation, in the formation of the 
Constitution, in the inauguration and administration of the Union 
up to 1861, the South controlled and dominated, and furnished 
the majority of the ])residents while Kentucky gave both Mr. 
Davis and Mr. Lincoln to the world. This hegemeny of the 
South was in all dej)artments of the old government; even so con- 
spicuous was the South in the government ot the country, 



— 6— 

and in the direction of its destiny in 1861 that vice president 
Stephens urged that fact upon the Secession Convention of 
Georgia, as one of the reasons why that body should not adopt 
the ordinance of session. There is no page of American history 
which the South has not helped to write, from the first Euro- 
pean settlement at Jamestown to this good hour. But strange 
as it may seem, while the South was conspicuous and illustrious 
in every period of American history before and after the war, 
it was a failure in the administration of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment, from 1861 to 1865. It seems to have lost its capacity 
for civil affairs and for legislation during those fateful years. 
There is no great comprehensive system of legislation, or of 
finances to the credit of the Confederate Congress, no great 
diplomatic triumph and no statesmanlike grasp of the civil, finan- 
cial and international needs of the Confederate government. 
This was in a measure due to the fact that the great men 
speedily sought service in the field. Mr. Davis never had 
any difficulty in finding men either of capacity or genius for 
command in the army, but in the civil affairs he was from the 
beginning to the end compelled to stand practically alone. He 
was at all times hampered by the want of men of great talent 
to assist him in the civil administration of the country. The 
mediocre men could not rise when occasion demanded to the 
requirements of the hour. They forgot the great example of 
Mr. Jefferson who during his administration of the Presidency 
bought the province of Louisiana from France, against his own 
conscientious scruples as to the power of the United States gov- 
ernment to do so. He yielded his own views as to the absence 
of power, in the presence of the great opportunity to serve his 
country. They could not even see the great example of Sena- 
tor Wigfall of Texas, who as Chairman of the Committee on 
Military affairs of the Confederate Senate, was able with the 
assistance of Mr. Davis to carry through the conscript law, 
against the protest of the then extreme State's right theorists 
in the two Houses of the Confederate Congress. 

This weakness of the South in civil affairs was one of the 
causes of her failure in the war. This however was the only 
theatre of action in which the South was weak, for while the 
Confederate Navy was small, its officers were all as conspicu- 
ous for their familiarity with diplomatic usage, and their knowl- 
edge of international law as for their skill as commanders. 
Particularly was this true of Admiral Semmes, whose papers 
and decisions on the many questions which confronted him show 
great grasp of the whole subject of diplomacy and international 
law, while the record of the "Alabama" is a lasting monument 



to his ability as a great naval commander. If the new social 
system of the South is less feudal in its magnificence than the 
old, it is more robust in its purposes, and stronger in its hopes ; 
if the South's ideals of political institutions perished in the 
fires of war, she lielped to save free representative government 
from the wreck of the conflict. She joined in the reconstruction 
of American nationality, and contributed her full share in the 
making of this Union "an indestructable republic of indestruct- 
able states ;" so that today the States are as "distinct as the 
billows; yet are one as the sea." 

Thus America presents in history the unique fact of a gov- 
ernment whose nationality and sovereignty has stood the test of 
Civil war, yet that sovereignty neither attached to the soil, 
nor was resident in the government, but in the people. This fact 
was true at all times, but never fully recognized until the South 
in her marvelous achievements after the war, has made the 
opinion of American nationality — expressed by John Jay, the 
first Chief Justice of the United States, a living truth. In 
this revised system of political institutions, the great work of 
the South is fully and fraternally recognized, for she stands 
today triumphant in its councils, controls and dominates its des- 
tiny, and leads in American progress as of old before the war. 
This, my countrymen and my comrades, is in broad outlines the 
history of the South which we all neglect. It is the noblest of 
all our achievements ; it is tlie history which we should the most 
highly prize, and inscribe not only on marble and bronze, but 
on the tablets of the hearts and minds of the rising generations 
of the South. This is the history for which I thank this Camp 
for the opportunity of presenting thus briefly, as the best and 
most loving tribute which I can pay to the memory of my 
fallen comrades. This history makes the record of the South 
illustrious in War, incomparable in peace. 

SLAVERY NOT THE CAUSE OF WAR. 

Perhaps in no respect has the South been so neglectful of her 
best interests as that of leaving the world in doubt as to the 
causes of secession and the war. The idea that slavery was the 
cause is all too prevalent. If that was the true cause, then all 
the Southern States would have cast their lot with their eleven 
sisters who formed the Confederate Government. This errone- 
ous opinion does no credit to the intelligence of the South or to 
that of the world. It must have been clear to the leaders, if 
not to the whole body of the people, that secession and war 
meant the destruction, not the preservation of slavery. The 



great majority of Southern whites in 1861 were non-slave hold- 
ers; of a white population then between seven and eight million 
only about 385,000 were slave holders. This mistaken notion 
about slavery being the cause of the war is due in a great de- 
gree to a misunderstanding of the so called "corner stone" speech 
of vice president A. H. Stephens delivered soon alter the form- 
ation of the Confederate Government; wherein he undertook 
to explain the distinguishing features between the old and new 
constitutions. Mr. Stephens did not say that slavery was the 
corner stone of the new government; he among other things 
pointed out that as the old government was founded on the 
Declaration of American Independence, it was therefore com- 
mitted to the proposition of the legal equality of all men, where- 
as, the new government was founded upon the opposite theory: 
the legal and social superiority of the white race. Even with 
that construction of his speech, it stands alone amid the public 
utterances of that era in the South. The fact is that but little 
was said as respects the causes which brought about secession. 
So little indeed, that that fact has been noted in contrast with 
the action of the American colonies when they separated from 
Great Britain. They presented a formal declaration of In- 
dependence, as the basis of their action, whereas the Convention 
at Montgomery, Alabama, which in February, 1861 made the 
Constitution of the Confederate Government was almost silent 
as to the causes which impelled the fateful step of secession. 
The Secession Convention of South Carolina, the State which 
led in the movement, simply said that "the public sentiment of 
the State for a long period has been ripening and strengthen- 
ing for disunion." Mr. Barnwell Rhett, one of the prominent 
leaders in that State, at the time, declared that "the secession 
of South Carolina, was not because of Mr. Lt^coln's election, 
or because of the non-enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 
by the North, but that it was a matter which had been gathering 
head for so long that the people of the State had determined 
now upon secession at whatever cost." Every observant South- 
erner now living, who was then a part of those fateful times, 
knows full well that slavery was not the cause of secession and 
the war. Those of this generation, and familiar with present 
conditions, and the agreement and harmony between the sec- 
tions now, cannot fully understand the crimination and estrange- 
ment which then existed between the North and the South. 
Never at any period of American history were the relations 
between the two sections of the country either so close, intimate 
and cordial as now. 



THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 

The one great cause of scession and the war was the difference 
in the respective views of the sections regarding the constitu- 
tional relation of the States to the Union. In 1861, the North 
had become imbued with the Hamiltonian or National idea; while 
the South had embraced the Jeftersonian or States' rights view. 
The National theory prevailed during the first twelve years of 
our governmental life, under General ^^"ashington and the elder 
Adams; thus the government was organized and started under the 
National idea. But in 1801, upon the inauguration of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, as president, the States' right theory assumed control, 
and dominated the Government of the Union until 1861, for 
the intervening Whig administrations came into power rather 
upon fiscal or economic issues, than upon political or constitu- 
tional questions. 

These two differing constitutional views antedate European 
settlement in this country; they were found in England between 
the Puritan and Cavalier. They were respectively planted at 
Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. From Jamestown went forth 
Southward, the aristocratic institutionalism of the Cavalier, em- 
bodying the feudalistic idea that the baronies were local lim- 
itations upon the authority of the Crown; this is the germ of 
the State's right theory of local sovereignty, which held that 
the States were independent and sovereign political commun- 
ities, barriers against the centralization of power in the 
general government. Wliile the South was thus saturated with 
the idea that there was no nationality in the general government 
and that the Union was a compact between Sovereign States, 
that the right of Secession in the States was an inherent right 
superior to the right of revolution in the individual. But from 
Plymouth Rock went forth tliroughout the North and West the 
Puritan idea of liberty regulated by law ; and that the Govern- 
ment of the Union was Supreme alike over the States and the 
people. Thus the political ideas of the people of the North 
tended to attach them more to the National than the State gov- 
ernment, those of the South more to the State governments than 
to the National. In addition to this the pople of the South were an 
agricultural people; those of the North were a manufacturing 
and commercial people. Thus the occupations of the two sec- 
tions to say nothing of their differing industrial systems, tended 
to emphasize and bring into conflict their discordant political 
and constitutional views. 

The first attemj)t in our history to put to a practical test the 
States' rights theory of the Government was singularly enough in 



—10— 

New England, at the Hartford Convention, in 1814; because 
of some inconvenience resulting from the second war with Great 
Britain. But by reason of the adjournment of that body, the 
arrest and punishment of some of its members, this attempt 
ended in failure. The second attempt in 1832 was likewise a 
failure, only South Carolina moving therein, when she under- 
took to nullify the tariff law of 1816. The third effort was 
successful in 1861, when these two opposing constitutional ideas 
went to war. not for slavery or freedom, but upon the question 
of the rights of the South in the Territories the common prop- 
erty of all the States. This was the question upon which the 
eleven Southern States which ultimately formed the Southern 
Confederacy, united to put to the test their faith in their polit- 
ical and constitutional convictions, by the exercise of their 
asserted right of peaceable secession. Thus the war actually 
came by the effort of the North undertaking to maintain the 
integrity of the Union, against the exercise of the asserted right 
of peaceable secession. 

It is more than a coincidence that in 1832 when South Caro- 
lina undertook to nulify the tariff laws, the movement failed, 
because General Jackson, a Southern man with the National 
ideas of the constitutional rights of this country, promptly as- 
serted the National supremacy, and stood ready to back that 
supremacy with the army and navy of the National Government, 
while in 1861, Mr. Buchannan, a Northern man with Southern 
political ideas, was president, who held that there was no con- 
stitutional power in the Union to preserve itself by force. 

MINOR CAUSES OF THE WAR. 

Thus while the antagonistic views held by the respective sec- 
tions of this country in 1861, was the chief cause of the war, 
there are several minor causes which exercised a very great 
influence upon the public mind. Chief among these was the 
feebleness of the Union, as well as the low estimate that the 
people placed upon it, as necessary to their welfare. All of us 
who are old enough to have observed conditions in the South 
before the War will remember that the people then seldom 
saw or felt the operations of the Federal Government, a thing 
almost apart from their political existence. A distinguished 
European observer, commenting on American institutions just 
before the War, remarked that the Americans then had a Nat- 
ional Government which they seldom saw, felt or respected. It 
was then only the State Governments with which the great body 
of the people came in contact, or looked to for protection. 



—11 — 

This was especially true in the South. Not so now; that has all 
changed. The government of the United States is now every- 
were present, seen and felt, respected and obeyed alike by the 
States and the citizens of all sections. The flag, uniform and the 
officials are seen on all sides. We today are as familiar with 
the National government as with the government of the State 
in which we live. These facts have never l)een fully recognized 
nor understood by the people. Their tremendous effect, the his- 
torian of the future will set forth. They show how little in 1861, 
the Southern people considered the Federal Government a thing 
to be reckoned with in the secession movement, or how little 
they thought of its power, or importance in case of war. All 
this illustrates the wisdom of the observation of Montesquieu, 
that "in the birth of societies, it is the chiefs of the Republic 
which form the institutions, in the sequel it is the institutions 
which form the chiefs of the Republic." How true that is of 
this country today, must be apparent, for at the birth of the 
Federal government, the chiefs, the fathers of the republic 
formed that government on lines away from and apart from 
the people, but in the sequel, those institutions have conformed 
not only the chiefs of the republic, but the people, to a new 
character of National government, which is everywhere present 
to the States and the citizens, and everywhere its supremacy 
is seen, felt, respected and obeyed alike by both States and 
people. While this new government is still the embodiment of 
those political institutions which arose at the birth of the repub- 
lic, we have in the sequel the practical workings of those insti- 
tutions, a world power, great at home and abroad. What serious 
thoughts this mighty power and these great achievements must 
awaken in every patriotic mind; great as results of the silent 
workings, and influence of political institutions upon our destiny 
as a people. 

The South has ever borne a chivalrous and distinguished 
part in all the history of this Country. Its position in no era 
should be misunderstood. To make clear bej'ond question that 
position upon secession and the war, let us restate briefly the 
differing constitutional views of the two sections. 

The North held that the Union had power to preserve itself, 
even by force of arms; that the United States was a National 
government, whose Constitution and Laws and Treaties made in 
pursuance thereof are the supreme laws of the land, as they 
are declared to be; that secession is rebellion. The position of 
the South was that the United States' Constitution was a com- 
pact between independent and sovereign States, who could le- 
gally secede from the compact, or withdraw at pleasure; that 



—12— 

there was no constitutional power to coerce them. The clash 
between these two discordant views of the Government of this 
Country was bound to come sooner or later; for a Government 
whose sections were thus divided could not long endure. The 
war was thus inevitable in the building of the nation; it was 
necessary to determine which one of these theories, if either 
should survive to control the destiny of the American people. 
Neither section is any the less American because of its political 
views, or because of the result of the war. But, be it said to the 
credit and honor of the South that its people were wise and 
patriotic enough, even in defeat to join in the rebuilding of the 
Nation on lines in accordance with the original ideas of the 
fathers ; a modification of each of these antagonistic theories. 
Thus the South helped to reconstruct American nationality and 
American institutions on lines where John Jay, the first Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, declared 
it to be. "The sovereignty of the nation," said he, 'is in the 
people of the nation and the residuary sovereignty of each State 
is in the people of the State ; no European idea of sovereignty 
obtains here; at the Revolution, the National sovercigntj' de- 
volved upon the people they became sovereigns without sub- 
jects, and had no one to govern but themselves; the citizens of 
America are equal as fellow citizens, and joint tenants in the 
sovereignty of the country." That today is the character of the 
political institutions of America, and the fact that it is so is due 
as much to the South as to the North. It is this fact, the joint 
labor of both sections, that has brought reconciliation and pros- 
perity, for this Union today is a "Government of the people, 
by the people and for the people," as it was never before. So 
it was that the war from 1861 to 1865 was over constitutional 
questions, not for the preservation of slavery. It was the pas- 
sage of both sections through the same firery furnace; through 
the same ordeal that other nations have passed in the develop- 
ment of their institutions of government and in the fulfilment 
of their destiny. 

In preserving our record, let us not mistake dissertation for 
history, nor be afraid of facts. You, Mr. Commander Good- 
wyn, deserve the thanks of all. If others would do as you 
have done — gather up the historic data of each camp and each 
community — the true history of the South would be secure. 

HISTORY. 

You need not fear the loss or even the neglect of the martial, 
or political history of the South; there are too many existing 



— 13— 

memorials of Southern achievements in each of these fields of 
action. The record of the South in politics and in war is in- 
delibly written upon ever}' page of American history, and on 
every field of American valor. Whether on land or sea, the deeds 
of the South are an important part of the heritage of American 
glory. These will so remain as long as the Republic itself shall 
endure. Southern endurance, genius and valor were as conspic- 
uous at Valley Forge, Saratoga, Yorktown, Lundy's Lane, Lake 
Erie, New Orleans, Buena Vista, or Chepultepcc, as at Shiloh, 
Missionary Ridge, or Gettysburg. Even in the hour of defeat 
and surrender, there stood upon the field of Appomatox no sol- 
dier more heroic and stainless than he who wore the tattered 
uniform of Gray. 

So with respect to the political ideas and principles of the 
South, these will forever live as part of the constitutional and 
political history of the American Union. These views will 
continue to be recalled as long as men differ about political af- 
fairs, so long as they hold different views about the affairs of 
life, or so long as they hold different views of the powers and 
duties of the National Government. The speeches of Mr. Cal- 
houn will be read along with those of Mr. Webster by all 
who would know and understand the Constitution of this Re- 
public. The opinions of Chief Justice Marshal will continue 
to hold first place in the judicial history of the United States, 
while Gen. Washington will forever be the typical American; 
"First in War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of his 
countrymen." There can never be any severance or sectionalism 
in American historj^; for in history as in destiny there must ever 
be unity. For this history is the record of American achieve- 
ments; and it is the common glory and heritage of all the Amer- 
ican people. Should all save yonder monument be blotted out, 
it would tell the story of the war not alone for the South, but 
for the North, though voiceless, it still bears upon its polished 
sides the story that on this continent from IStil to 1865 there 
raged a civil war, where the sections each were foemen, worthy of 
the other's steel. So would a remaining Northern monument 
perpetuate the same fact. But there is a most essential part of 
Southern history, without relation to that of the North which 
is in danger of being lost from neglect. The only hope for 
the preservation of this history is that the devoted womanhood 
of the South will take hold of this as it did the monuments to 
the soldiers. This history is in the folk lore of the South, in 
the great works of peace, in the heroic deeds of the returned 
soldiers, the men and women of the South, who in 1865 and in 
subsequent years so nobly rebuilt their war-wasted land and 



—14.— 

restored their political, religious, and social status as a people. 
Its peaceful history is the crowning glory of the South, and 
should be preserved. Many of the facts of this marvelous tri- 
umph over poverty and misfortune, even novr live only in tradi- 
tion ; also those economic and moral acts which eminated from 
the prayers and teachings of the sainted motherhood of this 
fair land will soon be forgotten, and lost unless speedily gather- 
ed up, and preserved until future generations shall find an his- 
torian to do justice, to the South's splendid, yet peaceful triumph 
over defeat, ruin, and disastrious war. The only extended eifort 
in this direction known to me is the work entitled, "The South 
in the Building of the Nation." While the work is not free 
from faults, it is a step in the right direction. 

THESE OCCASIONS. 

Let us recall the fact that this occasion is just past the fiftieth 
anniversary of Appomatox; that we stand today beside the 
graves of our soldier dead, and also beside the tombs of that 
generation of Southern men and women who gave to the world 
the valiant heroes who formed the armies of the South during 
our Civil war. The labors of that generation and its successor 
in war and peace make the brightest pages of our history. 
Therefore, if this be an occasion for memory and for tears, it 
is also one for inspiration and instruction. We should more and 
more as the years go by utilize the lessons these occasions im- 
part. The most useful of these lessons is that American his- 
tory, like American destiny is inseparable; and cannot be made 
sectional; the record is that of the joint valor and wisdom of 
both sections. The men of the North and the South illumine 
every page of that history from the settlement at Jamestown 
to this glorious hour. This whole country has experienced the 
fact that animosities created by wars over constitutional or dy- 
nastic questions are comparatively short lived; wiiile the hatred 
born of religious wars survive for a much longer time. Ishmael- 
like they continue to raise a fratricidal hand against human 
kind. No Frenchman now asks his neighbor whether his an- 
cestors were for the Bonapartes or the Bourbon, for the Empire 
or the Kingdom. No Enlishman today inquires how their an- 
cestors fought in the Wars of the Roses, whether they wore 
the "white rose of York," or the "red rose of Lancaster." So 
there are few today who concern themselves as to whether his 
neighbor wore the Blue or the Gray in our Civil war. Not so 
is this in religious wars; the battle of the Boyne fought three 
and a quarter centuries ago, its animosities still survive in both 



—15— 

England and Ireland. That battle was fougnt between the 
remnant of the Catholic army under King James II of England, 
and the Protestant army, under his son-in-law, William, Prince 
of Orange. The result of that battle put William and Mary 
on the throne of England, and provided a protestant succession 
to the crown of that country. But the fires then lighted still 
burn, and they not only keep England and Ireland apart, but 
they also keep Ireland divided, and estranged; the Orangemen 
of the North and Catholics of the South of that green, but 
unhappy Island stand in hostile attitude to each other. No 
such living hatred divides the American people today. There 
is more of unity and good feeling now than ever in the history 
of this country between tlie North and South. After all both 
sections of this vast and imperial Republic recognize that there 
is but one country; the product of their joint labors. That they 
are the co-makers of its destiny, and its freedom. The sharers 
of its glory, or its shame; and responsible for the future of 
American progress. That all the victories, and aU the defeats 
under whatever banner won or lost, are all of them American 
victories and American defeats ; the common glory and heritage 
of all sections. Then let us under the influence of the hallowed 
memories and inspirations of this sacred occasion, patriotically 
say furl the banners, smelt the guns, for peace rules, and love 
through peace: 

"Her gentler purpose runs. 

A mighty mother turns in tears, 
The pages of her battle years, 

. Lamenting all her fallen sons." 




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